Private Lives

Synopsis

A divorced couple are reunited whilst honeymooning with their second spouses. Moonlight on the Mediterranean - a beautiful young woman drifts onto a hotel balcony. A young man joins her. They embrace, drink in the scene. This is a dream of a honey moon come true. They part. The young man is alone. A band plays. On the next balcony another young woman appears. She sings a song. The young man gives a horrified gasp and freezes. He knows that tune only too well. And he knows that voice. He used to be married to it.

Our Review:

Anne Morley-Priestman - 15 March 2011

Robin Herford’s staging of Coward’s Private Lives sets a very high standard for the planned series of co-productions between the Mercury Theatre, Oldham Coliseum, Harrogate Theatre and Basingstoke’s Anvil Arts. It makes much of the comedy duel between formerly married Amanda and Elyot as they meet again, this time with their new spouses in tow. It also – very cleverly and with considerable delicacy – draws our attention to the dichotomy between mutual passion and personal incompatibility.

This underpins the second act in particular, which is basically a duologue for the two principals. It makes the exchange of physical violence as first Amanda and then Elyot loses temper into something dangerous and not just comic knockabout. Coward’s acerbic wit is seldom simply surface gloss, and this production proves it.

Michael Holt’s excellent sets help; his Art Deco hotel for the first act and a Paris apartment still determi...

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